donbrew

But then the repair manual also shows the RCDLR is back there. It is, IF you have the optional 2-way remote control system.
They did a poor proofread on that section.

2006-2007 do have it back there.

oxygenated

Absolutely. The HHR oem speakers are absolute junk (at least in my 2006 LT). Mine went through a short period of intermittent, then all four door speakers crapped out at once. I mistakenly assumed there was no such possibility as all four going bad at once, so I bought a cheap aftermarket radio , harness and single DIN dash adapter. I luckily checked my new eBay radio before doing the full dash install and ... no sound.

Next purchase was four door speaker adapters, four door wiring adapters, and four speakers. I got the driver's door installed and was shocked to suddenly hear the chimes that I had gotten used to not hearing for so long (never missed them). The brand-name two-way speakers (2 JVC, 2 Pioneer) all bought on sale for about $25/pair ($40 if not) sound great.

Notes:

▬ The plastic clip that holds the door-release cable to the door handle is FRAGILE. After breaking one, I installed the last three by rotating the door panel to where I could hang it out of the way from the speaker location with the cable still attached. I confess I carefully secured my broken one with wraps of electrical tape.

▬ The eBay speaker adapters fit fine. I re-used the foam isolation rings from the oem adapters by removing them with a sharp scraper, then contact-cement-gluing them to the replacement speaker rims after installing the speakers in the new adapters.

▬ There are double-sticky rubber-tape frame buffers that easily peel off of the oem adapters for re-use. I recommend them as a preventative for any buzz that may occur between the adapters and the metal door cut-out.

▬ The eBay wiring harness adapters are worth a small investment; it will save you from cutting, splicing and looking up/second-guessing which lead is positive and which is negative (all eight oem wires are a different color).

▬ If I was doing the job again, I would re-use the OEM speaker adapters. The eBay replacements work fine but they are drilled, slotted, holed and tabbed for every imaginable combination of three-hole and four-hole and 'lil bigger and 'lil smaller speaker you could imagine. I would go to the considerable trouble of cutting the plastic "spokes" out of the oem adapters and then drill whatever specific holes my replacement speakers required. The oem adapters are more sturdy plastic and have a metal retaining clip at the top. They would only be ideal for speakers six inches total diameter without even further modification

▬ Attached are two photos of the oem speaker adapters, unmodified.

solman98

Don't waste the money on adapters, just use the original speaker bracket to mount the new speaker. Then bolt up the original bracket.

oxygenated

The original adapters (which are structurally a part of the speakers themselves, pictured in my post above) could not have received my standard 6" replacement speakers without the extensive modification I described in my post above. The plastic "spokes" obstruct the depth necessary to mount the replacements.

solman98

Those plastic spokes took maybe 10 minutes to remove on all 4 with a dremel. My 6.5" Kenwoods bolted right up afterwards.

oxygenated

I am glad that worked out well for you. As I mentioned in my post above, that is the job I would have undertaken if I had known what was in the door before ordering the eBay adapters and then getting the panels off to see what is there. The oem adapters, once modified, are much more solid than the eBay replacements.

In my case, mounting a speaker with a diameter greater than 6 inches would have also required cutting off the 5/16" throat surrounding the circumference of the adapter face, in addition to cutting the 38 spokes total on the 4 oem adapters. I suspect that the job you undertook is beyond the patience of the typical weekend mechanic who might not have a dremel.

donbrew

A craft knife took me a lot less than 10 minutes. I wasn't planning on having anybody look at it and I certainly didn't care what happened to the "business" parts.

Where in VA. And Welcome.

oxygenated

Thanks for the welcome, Don. I'm two hours south of you on 17 - the north bank of the York River at Gloucester Point.